Destined Encounters
by Celtic Oak
Summary: [ON HIATUS] Konoha's top ANBU Captain realizes there's something missing in his life while the Hokage's prized apprentice finally finds the courage to let go. NejiSaku.
1. Dissatisfied return

**A/N**: Yosh, I'm back with a new one! Ok,ok, I know most of you are probably going to kill me for not continuing with my other fics, but this idea was floating around in my obsessive mind and it just couldn't be ignored.

This chapter is completely introductory, so not much happens in it. However, I made up for this fact by having Neji in the shower and half naked for almost all the length of the chapter… hehe, a small treat from my part!

As I was planning this whole story, an extremely _sexy_ version of Neji came popping into my head, so Sakura's going to get more than she's bargained for! Haha! So be warned, future chapters will most probably have 'mature content' and this whole story is rated 'M'.

But enough of my ramblings, I'll let you read in peace now. Hope you like my version of things… enjoy!

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**Chapter I – Dissatisfied return**

As silver streamed through the glass of the living room window, the front door swung open, revealing the tall silhouette of Konoha's top ANBU Captain. Turning on the light quickly, Hyuuga Neji sighed deeply, going over the few furnishings of his apartment, glad to finally be able to step into his home once more.

Stepping inside, he closed the door behind him, taking off his uniform as he walked. Mud was splattered all over his clothing and long gashes crisscrossed his arms, as if he had been running straight through a field of thorn bushes. He placed his feline mask on a table next to the sofa, not stopping as he made his way towards his bedroom, a hot shower the only thing on his mind.

Having arrived from an incredibly tedious mission just minutes ago, he had been dreaming of a hot bath through the long days it had taken his team to get back to Konoha. Stopping only to make a preliminary report at the Hokage's office, Neji had taken a direct route towards his home with the sole intention of getting cleaned up, since the accumulated grime of several days was clinging to his body like a second skin.

As was usually the case with ANBU assassination missions, their target would play a game of hide and seek for as long as possible, attempting to throw the hunter nins off. Most of the time, this strategy would work, since the ANBU team would eventually grow tired of having to be on 24 hour vigilance and would have to call on replacements to continue with the tracking. This, however, wasn't the case when Hyuuga Neji was leading a mission.

With his legendary skills and his perfected Byakugan, Neji could track a missing nin through the harshest of conditions. As a Captain, he had a 95 percent success rate, which placed him on top of all the other ANBU in Konoha, reinforcing his reputation as a prodigy.

Despite this fact, it had taken him a whole two weeks to track and eliminate this past mission's nin, a fact which had frustrated him to no end. Pushing his team to their up most limits, they had chased the shinobi to the borders of the Rain Country, where swamp lands and moors ruled the landscape. After a series of strenuous skirmishes through mud and rain, they had managed to corner the renegade ninja, ending his pitiful life once and for all.

By the time they managed to rest and clean up as best as they could, Neji had realized it would take them the better part of three days to get back to their home village. Not wanting to waste another minute in the insect infested swamp they had been forced to enter, his team didn't object when he informed them they would be moving out after resting only for a few night hours.

So, a few days later, he was relieved to find his mire spluttered self entering his home, with nothing between him and his shower.

After taking off his shirt, he untied his long hair from the high ponytail he wore, letting it fall freely down his back. After years of experience with ANBU missions, he found that it was better to wear his hair up rather than in the loose ponytail he used to wear it in. He had found himself covered by his own hair in several instances when his low ponytail had slipped completely loose; even though he could see perfectly well with his Byakugan through his dark strands, it was needless to say that having his face completely covered in hair while he was in the middle of close combat wasn't a very comfortable experience. So, a change of hairstyle had been in order.

Slipping off his trousers, he finished undressing as he stepped into his bathroom. Taking a look at himself in the mirror, he surveyed the scrapes and bruises scattered through his muscular torso. They were all minor injuries and were more a nuisance than anything else. Unconsciously, his hand went up to massage a predominant scar up on the left side of his chest. It was a memento from his vicious fight with Kidoumaro of Sound, a fight he was never likely to forget. In all his life as a ninja, Neji had seen death close up, but never _that_ close. But even if the whole memory filled his being with apprehension, it also brought happy recollections of his younger days.

As he stepped into the shower and turned the water up to a scalding temperature, he remembered how his life had been turned from a dark void of servitude to a life full of brightness when he realized the truth behind his family history. It hadn't been an easy change, and it had taken a few well-placed punches on Naruto's part to make Neji see the light, but it had been well worth it. His resentment towards Hinata-sama had completely vanished after that, and as he hastily climbed in the shinobi ranks as only a prodigy could, he started to truly realize the fact that he _had_ other options in life apart from serving the Main family as a bodyguard… he _was_ capable of changing his fate.

After attaining the status of Jounin in what seemed like a blink of an eye, Hiashi-sama had granted Neji a special privilege, since he had brought much honor to the Hyuuga family with his skill and excellence: he was allowed to live outside the family complex. Knowing that the young ninja preferred to have his private space and solitude, the Clan leader saw no objection in giving this small freedom to his nephew. It was an act of trust from his part and Neji was not one to reject the unexpected gesture.

Taking up a bar of soap and a sponge, the raven haired captain proceeded to scrub himself clean, relishing in the feeling of freshness thrumming through his skin. After a couple of weeks of not being able to remove the dirt covering him properly, he thanked the heavens for the invention of the modern shower. He washed his hair devotedly as well, since there was nothing worse than walking around with a head full of grime.

Once he was done scrubbing, he leaned back against the tiled wall, allowing the hot water to soothe away the tiredness of his muscles, relieving the tension he had built up during the mission. Tracking the missing nin had been a pain in the ass to say the least, and Neji didn't like it when things didn't go as he planned. It had been quite a challenge, he had to admit, and he had enjoyed the thrill of adrenaline that came with the chase, but there were limits to one's enjoyment. The damn ninja had evaded him completely for almost five days straight and it had finally started to get on his nerves.

It was useless to dwell on it now however, since the mission was over and done with. They had trapped and eliminated the nin successfully and he should be satisfied with that. Considering all the unfavorable circumstance his team had faced during the mission, they had actually accomplished their goal fairly quickly, something he should be pleased with. After having effectively completed a mission, Neji usually returned home with a feeling of fulfillment, no matter how small the task had been.

But as he turned the water off and reached for his towel, Konoha's top ranking ANBU Captain realized that this feeling was nowhere near the neighborhood.

Neji wasn't prone to sulking or brooding… not at all. If he made a mistake, he did everything in his power to rectify it and learn from it, and this applied to his professional life as a ninja as well as to his personal life. Having lived most of his childhood hiding behind a mask of arrogance, Neji had been taught a hard lesson in humility when he had been beaten by Naruto, and it was a lesson he had learned for life. There was nothing wrong with admitting your mistakes and if they affected another person, you should try your best to apologize, rectifying your error as best as you could. There was no point in dwelling on your past and not being able to let it go, no matter how recent it might be.

As he toweled himself dry, Neji pondered the reason behind his lack of contentment. He had performed flawlessly during his mission, as he usually did, and there hadn't been any screw ups with his team either. There was absolutely no reason to feel like this… but he _was_.

Wrapping the towel around his waist, he made his way towards his bedroom, wet hair dripping down his muscled back. Opening his closet door, he absentmindedly grabbed the first pair of sweat trousers he could find and slipped them on, using the towel to dry his hair afterwards.

The more he thought about it, the more he was inclined to think that this strange feeling of 'dissatisfaction' he was having had nothing to do with his previous mission, since nothing wrong had actually happened. But if it wasn't his mission, then what was it?

Walking back into the bathroom, he combed his hair methodically and proceeded to tie it back up into a ponytail before tying his usual bandages over the cursed seal on his forehead. Hanging the towel on top of the shower curtain, he made his way shirtless towards the kitchen, intent on getting something to drink. Opening the fridge, he was pointedly reminded of the fact that he hadn't been home in two weeks since there wasn't a trace of food anywhere. He picked up a carton of orange juice and smelled its contents. Grimacing at the nauseating odor which met his nose, he threw it away immediately, promising he would go to the market first thing in the morning.

Closing the fridge door, he grabbed a glass from a nearby cupboard and filled it with tap water. Turning around, he leaned against the sink, taking a long drink, emptying the glass almost completely. Refilling it quickly, he made his way towards his living room and slumped down on one of his soft leather couches.

As he leaned back on the sofa, he sighed deeply, trying unsuccessfully to get rid of the feeling he had been attempting to fight all night. It was time to admit that he wasn't satisfied… but wasn't satisfied with what?

Looking around his living room, he contemplated the few wooden furnishings he had. Even though he more than had the means to extravagantly adorn his living space, he preferred to keep things simple, having had a disliking for clutter since he was very small. His apartment was exactly how he wanted it to be: basic and neat.

He had everything a young shinobi could ask for… skill, respect, admiration, friends who would happily fight at his side… he had a place of his own, somewhere where he could have his privacy and enjoy some peace. He was the top ranking ANBU captain in the whole village and he was only 24; he was a flawless professional and did his job with unblemished expertise.

If he had _everything_ anyone could ever want, then why did he feel so empty?

The reigning silence of the living room did nothing to answer his question.

A loud pounding on his door pulled him out of his reverie. Lifting himself up from the sofa with the grace of a cat, Neji went to answer the door.

"About time you got back to Konoha!" Naruto shouted once the Hyuuga had opened his door.

"Good to see you too," Neji mumbled under his breath, but Naruto seemed not to hear him. Looking up, he found the blond wasn't alone.

"Neji-san!" Lee exclaimed, elbowing Naruto out of the way, "I'm glad to see you are back! How was the mission?"

"Too long and too tedious," he replied sincerely.

"Haha! Spoken like a true ANBU captain," Kiba said sarcastically from behind Lee.

"Hmmph," a dark voice sounded from Kiba's right. "Did you get more than you bargained for this time, Hyuuga?" As he finished the question, the speaker leaned into the light of the doorway, a smirk plastered on his face.

Neji chuckled in response, matching his leer perfectly. "I'm afraid that will never happen, Uchiha."

Sasuke smiled in response but said nothing.

Six months ago, Neji had led a mission to eliminate a renegade nin which had led his team deep into Sound territory. Luckily for him, Naruto, Tenten, Shikamaru and Lee had been with him, for the battle which had ensued would have been lost if he had been accompanied by amateur shinobi. In what seemed to be a mere coincidence, they had been able to finally take the missing nin down near one of the many hideouts of Sound's leader, Orochimaru. Hearing a commotion near their position, they went in to investigate, not at all prepared for the sight which greeted them.

In the opening of an underground lair, they found none other than Uchiha Sasuke fighting for his life not only against Kabuto, but against Orochimaru as well.

Naruto had been impossible to control and before Neji could even begin to form a plan of action, the blond had already rushed towards the fight, two Kyuubi tails trailing behind him. After that, Neji had no choice but to engage his team in the fight.

Naturally, Orochimaru called for reinforcements as soon as Naruto approached and they came out by the dozens from the cave opening. The group was incredibly hard pressed, but with Lee's speed, Tenten's expertise and Shikamaru's brain, they managed to pull through. Neji, on the other hand, was forced to go head on with Kabuto and he was forced to give his _all_ in the fight. They battled for what seemed like hours and the Hyuuga prodigy thought he would have to call a retreat. But from the corner of his eye, Neji suddenly saw a flash of immense energy fly by, only to see it crash directly into Orochimaru's chest.

As the snake man fell dead in a pile on the ground, Neji used Kabuto's distraction at seeing his master defeated to land his killing blow. Lifting his face to survey the scene, the Captain's eyes landed on the panting forms of Naruto and Sasuke, standing side by side; it was then that he realized they had used their combined forces of Rasengan and Chidori to bring down the infamous immortal shinobi.

Collapsing from the strain on his body, Sasuke fell like a rag doll. Catching his former team mate in his arms, Naruto's battle frenzy came to an end. As Neji watched the blond cradle his long lost comrade in his arms, he immediately knew he was standing in the middle of an enormous conflict of interest.

His duty demanded he take the Uchiha's life right there and then. The missing prodigy had been declared an 'S class' missing nin years ago and it was Neji's obligation to eliminate him without a second thought.

However, as he watched Naruto embrace Sasuke's blood splattered form, he knew that assassinating the renegade shinobi wouldn't be easy, and he would have to fight the blond to the death to achieve his goal. Also, he knew the history between the former team mates and he himself had formed part of the original mission to rescue Sasuke. At the same time, the Captain owed an unimaginable debt to Naruto, a debt he had never been able to truly pay back and this circumstance allowed him to repay the blond four times over.

So consumed was Neji in his thoughts that he jolted back to reality only find his whole team, Naruto included, staring at him, awaiting his next move. The blond's blue teary eyes were essentially pleading with him, since all of them knew this was Neji's decision to make.

Letting out a deep breathe, the Captain gave his verdict.

"Uchiha Sasuke will be taken back to Konoha as a prisoner, where he will receive trial over his actions."

The overwhelming tension which had been engulfing the people present dropped like a lead weight.

Naruto let his tears fall freely in gratitude towards Neji's merciful decision. Giving the circumstance, the blond knew very well that this was the best the Captain could give him, and in truth, it was more than he had ever truly expected.

They regrouped and readied themselves as quickly as possible, placing the corpses of Orochimaru and Kabuto in the body bags they always carried for elimination missions. Sasuke was tied up to prevent his escape in case he woke up, but that never happened, since he was unconscious all through the journey. Naruto carried him through the long miles of travel back to their home village… naturally, he didn't even complain once.

Afterwards, they found out that moments before they came into the scene, Orochimaru had attempted to perform his body-transfer technique on Sasuke after years of waiting patiently. Naturally, the black haired ninja had refused and had put up a fight, knowing this moment had been inevitable from the beginning. The snake man had managed to commence the jutsu however, and had sucked out much of Sasuke's chakra before he managed to escape from his grasp. He made it as far as the hideout's entrance where he almost collapsed from exhaustion; he was forced to make a stand there and was fighting a losing battle until the rest of them showed up.

Neji's team's timing had been nothing less than perfect.

The trial was long and dreary and it lasted for many weeks. In the end, the Hokage gave out her judgment after having a private 4 hour discussion with Naruto. Sasuke would be forced to repay his debt to Konoha by performing certain services, which weren't at all easy and most of them involved a high risk to his life. Second, he would have to divulge all the information he had on Orochimaru and his operation and would be forced to help eliminate the remaining members of the Sound Village. And third, Uzumaki Naruto would be held responsible for _all_ of Sasuke's actions until the Hokage deemed prudent; if the Uchiha stepped out of line even once, not only would his life be forfeit, but Naruto's as well.

By the acceptance of these terms, Sasuke was considered a Konoha shinobi once more.

Naruto almost had a heart attack of happiness, tears streaming down his cheeks as he embraced the Godaime and Sasuke at the same time. To say he was ecstatic would be a gross understatement. The celebration lasted for a few days and all the shinobi of their generation joined in, even though there were more than a few people who were skeptical with Tsunade-sama's decision.

It took Sasuke quite some time to fit in once more with Konoha's routine, and he was forced to take his chuunin exam once more. Needless to say, he passed it with a flourish, heading directly to his jounin exam in a small period of time. In private, it took a while for his comrades to trust him again, but in truth, none of them were surprised to find how deeply he had changed. He confessed that after the threat of Akatsuki was eliminated and his brother Itachi exterminated by his own hand, his thirst for vengeance satiated, he found he had nowhere to go, _nowhere _to go home to, therefore, he had been forced to stick with Orochimaru and serve him.

Even though he didn't regret any of his actions, which given his circumstances, all of them could somehow understand, he truly appreciated all they had done for him, especially Naruto, and was glad to be able to rejoin their ranks. The arrogance with which he usually walked around wasn't gone, but it had a softer edge to it. It was easy to see that the experiences he had faced through the years had affected him greatly. He was easier to approach and his smiles showed up more often than before. And naturally, Naruto was his shadow from dusk to dawn.

But despite it all, there was one shadow missing from the former Team 7 and through the whole process, _she_ had remained at a distance…

"Well, are you coming or not?" Naruto asked loudly.

Neji shook his head momentarily, jolting out of his thoughts.

"I'm sorry?" he asked in confusion.

Rolling his eyes, the blond was clearly at the end of his patience. "I **said** we were going over to the pub to catch a few drinks. Are you coming with us or not?"

Even though he had just come back from a mission, Neji suddenly realized that he wasn't at all tired. Going out and having some company would also be good for him and would help him to avoid that discomfiting feeling he had been experiencing since he got back.

"Sure, give me just a second to change," he said and without waiting for a reply, he went back into his apartment. After only a couple of minutes, he emerged, wearing one of his trademark white short-sleeved shirts, a relic from his past he was reluctant to part with; he had, however, updated the shorts he used to wear in his younger days with some black trousers.

"Let's go," Neji said, as he closed the door behind him.

"Yosh!" Naruto exclaimed as he put an arm around Neji's shoulders. Immediately, Lee came up on his other side and mimicked the gesture. And so, buried between the boisterous calls of Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast and the Kage Bunshin Master, Hyuuga Neji walked down to the nearest pub with a look of resignation on his face.

But despite this fact, he was truly glad to be in the presence of his friends.

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And so, the game board is set! After thorough psychological analysis, we can see how Neji's behavior clearly implies that he's in desperate need of a girl. Haha! Luckily for him, I plan on giving him what he needs. Let me know what you think and I'll be updating ASAP! 


	2. Eyes across the room

**A/N**: I am officially on a roll with this thing! YES! I've actually had this chapter for a few days, but since was down, I couldn't put it up. But apart from that, it's actually amazing how easy it was for me to write these two first chapters… I just couldn't stop myself and I actually wrote them almost completely at work. Shhhh, don't tell my boss!

Thanks to everyone who's reviewed! Your reviews mean _a lot_ to me. I'll try to keep posting chapters quickly, but I'm afraid I won't be able to continue to write at work without getting caught. Damn! Hehe.

So, here's the next installment, it came out a bit longer than the last one. Hope you like it.

By the way, I just couldn't resist giving the pub in the story a "classic" pub name… LOL.

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**Chapter II – Eyes across the room**

'The Flying Shuriken' was a small pub located on a corner of one of Konoha's busiest streets. It had always been a favorite shinobi spot, where everyone would come and have a few drinks, talk about their missions and relieve their stress in general. A long bar was located to the right of the main room while small niches had been carved into the walls, nestling comfortable booths all around the place.

As Neji, Naruto, Lee, Kiba and Sasuke walked in, there was a small crowd scattered around the place. It was still relatively early, so more people would probably be coming in soon. Choosing a table on the far wall, the group made its way directly towards it while Lee went to the bar to order their drinks.

"So Neji, was your mission so bad after all?" Kiba asked, looking around the room as if trying to spot someone.

"To tell you the truth, it wasn't," the raven haired ninja replied. "It was just too wearisome and the bastard nin evaded me longer than I would have liked. I just wanted to get the whole thing over with and go home."

"I know the feeling," Naruto added loudly. "It's like sometimes you just want the mission to go smoothly and quickly, you know? No complications, no stupid decoys for you to track… just a straightforward task you can get done before nightfall."

Neji nodded his agreement.

"Well dobe, if that's what you're looking for, then I'm afraid you've chosen the wrong profession," Sasuke said mockingly.

Kiba snickered at the statement.

"That's not what I meant!" the blond replied defensively. "I'm just saying that sometimes it would be nice for missions to go smoothly for a change."

"I think you're just slacking," Sasuke insisted, a smirk on his lips.

"No, I'm not!"

At that moment, Lee chose to make an appearance at the table. In an amazing feat of balance, he had walked across the room balancing five beer bugs in his arms.

"Here you are, gentlemen!" he announced proudly as he sat down.

Grabbing his mug quickly, Kiba lifted it slightly above the table. "To your health," he said in salute.

"Cheers!" all the others responded in unison as they lifted their mugs and clanked them together before gulping down a considerable quantity of beer in one go.

As the drink washed down his throat, Neji felt the rest of the tension leave his body. This was exactly what he needed to clear his mind of any stupid thoughts.

"Urrgh, she's not here!" Kiba exclaimed in frustration after another few moments of looking around.

"Who's not here?" Lee asked, looking around the pub himself.

"Nariko," Kiba stated simply.

"Oh yeah," Naruto said, "that's the cute little chuunin we had a mission with last week. Haha, I didn't know you had a thing for her Kiba, you sly dog!"

"It's not a _thing_," the Canine Master replied defensively, "I just happen to like her a bit and I was hoping I would find her here tonight."

Sasuke chuckled darkly but kept quiet.

"What's so funny?" Kiba asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"Nothing," the dark haired shinobi replied, humor in his voice "it's just funny to think that the little stray dog thinks he can come into a pub and pick up a girl when he's smelling like he just rolled on the grass with the rest of the pack."

There was a burst of laughter all around the table.

"I don't smell!" Kiba exclaimed defensively, lifting his sleeve to his nose and sniffing experimentally.

This made Naruto and Lee laugh all the harder.

"Hey, it's not like the rest of you are _experts_ on the subject!"

"Speak for yourself, little puppy," Sasuke replied with an air of superiority.

"Having a fan club when you were a kid doesn't count as experience, baka," Naruto told him pointedly.

Neji let out a loud snort, trying to fight back a wave of laughter.

Sasuke turned to glare at him slightly. "You're one to talk, Hyuuga."

"I never claimed to be a ladies man," the ANBU Captain replied calmly.

"Oh, and all of a sudden he's modest!" Kiba exclaimed sarcastically. "I've seen you around with a couple of girls so don't pretend you're innocent!"

"I never said I was innocent, either," Neji replied without missing a beat, the implied meaning of his words hanging in the air. "And a small tip for you Kiba… the next time to go out to try and talk to a girl, take a shower first."

Naruto almost choked with his beer as the raven haired prodigy finished his sentence.

Another fit of laughter washed through the table and even Kiba joined in a little.

Conversation turned to other matters as the night progressed and beers came and went as the time passed. After a couple of hours, Ino and Hinata showed up, accompanied by Chouji and Shikamaru.

"Ah, there she is!" Naruto shouted as they entered the room, getting up to greet the Hyuuga heiress with a kiss on the cheek.

"Konnichawa, Naruto-kun," she replied, a small blush covering her cheeks.

"Come sit with me," he told her as he took her hand in his.

"I think we need another table," Lee said as he was standing up to get some extra chairs. In a blink of an eye, another table was adjoined and the whole group was able to sit comfortably.

More drinks were ordered and the laughter and shouts around the tables rose as the young group of ninjas enjoyed their free time together. More people were steadily coming into the pub, but it never became excessively crowded. Light-hearted banter flowed freely across the room and a number of people would stand up constantly, going over to talk with acquaintances at other tables or at the bar. Overall, it was a friendly night of pleasant exchanges between fellow shinobi.

At some point during the night, Tenten walked in with Genma, her current love interest. They came over to say hello but went over to sit down at another table of older shinobi after a few words. But after a while, the weapon specialist came over again and sat down to talk next to Neji, who was by that time sitting at the end of the table.

As they discussed their current life situations, the Hyuuga prodigy smiled at his friend. Tenten had always been like a sister to him and through all their experiences, Neji found he could talk to her about absolutely anything. This feeling was also returned in kind, and the Captain had found a weeping kunoichi in his arms more than a few times when she would come over to his place while suffering from a broken heart. Both of them had always had a very close relationship and had known each other since they were very little. No matter how long the distance or how much time passed, their bond would never break.

After a bit, Tenten stood up and went back to Genma's side, leaving the chair next to Neji empty. He looked around the table, listening in to the different conversations which were going on, chuckling at all the different comments. As he laughed out loud at an incredibly stupid remark coming from Naruto while he discussed certain nutritional habits with Chouji, Neji was once more glad he had decided to go out this night.

As he sat there surrounded by his friends, the feeling of dissatisfaction he had experienced earlier seemed like a faraway memory. Shaking his head at himself, he knew it had probably been a small case of paranoia due to his tiredness from the mission. There was absolutely nothing to worry about.

Just as this last thought crossed his mind, for no reason whatsoever, Neji found himself looking up suddenly towards the pub's entrance.

There, standing in the middle of the open double doors, was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.

She had shinning emerald eyes and the shade of her short tresses would put the most colorful cherry blossoms to shame. Her skin was flawless in every aspect and the low lighting only helped to enhance her already stunning features.

The Captain could do nothing but stare at her graceful form as if in a trance, completely lost in the shock of her unexpected appearance. Looking around as she stood there at the entrance, she made no move to enter the pub, and Neji could easily tell she was hesitant to do so.

Her eyes scanned the crowd, and by the will of some capricious deity, her emerald orbs met his silver eyes and their gazes locked for the slightest of seconds.

As this goddess looked at him, Neji was surprised to find that she was smiling at him in recognition. Smiling back at her in an automatic response, he saw her take a tentative step into the crowded room and as she walked forward, the raven haired ninja realized there _was_ something extremely familiar about her…

"**SAKURA**!" Naruto's bellow thrummed all around the small pub. "YOU'RE BACK!"

As the blond lounged himself across the room at the advancing kunoichi, Neji shook himself out of his reverie.

'_Sakura!_ Of course!' he thought, completely disgusted with his stupidity. 'I have officially had too much to drink.' How he had failed to recognize her immediately was beyond his current comprehension.

Naruto was spinning the pink haired medic round and round in the middle of the pub, both of them laughing in glee all the while. Everyone stood up from the table, waiting for Sakura to approach so they would have a chance to greet her.

"Hi everybody!" she said with a wide smile, as Naruto finally allowed her to go up to the rest of the group.

Ino came forward and hugged her tightly, followed by Lee and Hinata. Everyone crowded around her, as she answered their questions concerning her trip amidst laughter and exclamations.

She went round her friends exchanging pleasantries, but as she arrived at the other end of the table, Neji clearly saw Sasuke's dark eyes catch hers and Sakura nodded back in greeting, a rueful half-smile on her lips. If anyone else had been watching, they would not have found anything wrong with the small exchange… but for Neji, it brought sudden understanding.

A couple of months after Sasuke had been brought back to Konoha, Haruno Sakura had unexpectedly accepted a long-term mission. She volunteered for it one day, out of the blue, saying that it was a task which had been pending for some time and needed to be done eventually. It implied for her to undertake an extensive journey through all of their allied villages, exchanging medical jutsus with the best of the best, so that in this way, Konoha's medic records would have the latest and most advanced compilation of techniques coming from all around the realms. She would be gone for four months and would be traveling on her own the whole time.

There was lots of speculation concerning her sudden desire to take up the mission and most people agreed it was fairly strange from her part, but completely understandable. Sakura was the Hokage's former apprentice, it was obvious that she would worry about updating Konoha's medical records, and if you thought about it really well, who else was qualified to take up such a task?

But as Neji saw Sakura casually turn her back on Sasuke, he _knew_ there was something else behind her sudden departure.

Her infatuation with the Uchiha prodigy had been common knowledge through the whole village for many years. Naruto and Sakura had suffered greatly when Sasuke had left and they had fought together many times to try and bring him back. Hence, it was extremely curious to find that once the Sharingan Master had been brought back and pardoned by the village, Sakura had decided to keep a prudent distance through the whole process and had even decided to leave Konoha for some time.

Knowing this was none of his business, Neji decided to stop his train of thought as everyone started settling back into their seats. He knew this was a private issue between Sakura and Sasuke, and he had no right to butt his nose where it wasn't wanted. But as he watched her walk around the table, he had a sudden urge to know more about what had happened between them… had the urge to know more about _her_.

Before he had the chance to contemplate the bizarre feelings he was experiencing, Neji found the pink haired kunoichi sitting next to him, filling the empty spot to his right.

"Neji-san," she greeted with a beautiful smile, green eyes sparkling.

Momentarily, the raven haired Captain forgot how to breathe.

But outwardly, his calm façade didn't reveal any of his internal conflicts.

"Haruno-san," he replied formally, returning her smile.

"Please, call me Sakura," she said.

"Only if you call me Neji… no honorifics."

Her smile widened impossibly. "Alright, it's a deal then."

"Sakura-chan, would like something to drink?" Naruto asked, coming up behind her.

"Errmm, I don't know. I'm really tired and if I drink a beer I will probably crash on the table."

"Aww, come one. A little cocktail won't hurt. My treat!" the blond said enthusiastically.

"Fine, but something small. Make sure it doesn't have too much booze in it!" she shouted as Naruto made his way towards the bar, but the blond didn't appear to hear her.

Shaking her head, Sakura turned back towards the table, only to find Neji's intense gaze on her.

There was something strange about him tonight, something elusive she had never noticed about him before. But it was probably all in her head… she hadn't seen any of them for a really long time and it was probably due to all the sudden emotion at finding all of her friends together on the night of her return.

But the look they had exchanged when she was standing on the doorway couldn't be ignored and Sakura knew that if she thought about it too much, her heart would threaten to skip a beat.

Silver eyes across the room…

She came back down to earth suddenly when she realized he was speaking to her.

"So, I take it that you're worn-out from your journey," he was saying.

"Yes, a little bit," she replied without giving any hint of her momentary distraction. "I arrived around an hour ago after traveling back from Cloud all day. But when I got home, I just couldn't stay put and I needed to go out and see everybody."

"I know the feeling," he replied smiling. "I just got back too."

"Really, how long were you gone?"

"Around two weeks. It was supposed to be a quick elimination mission, but unfortunately it turned out to be longer than that. But it was nothing compared to the time you've been gone."

"Yeah, it _was_ a long time, wasn't it? It actually passed by really quickly for me."

At that moment, Naruto came back to the table with Sakura's drink: a light green cocktail with a little straw hat. She thanked him but didn't even ask what the drink was, absentmindedly sipping from it every so often. Neji was too absorbed with their whole interaction that he didn't even notice the kunoichi's distraction.

"I'd ask you about your trip, but I'm sure you're already tired of talking about it," he told her.

"No, not at all. Honestly, everyone's just asked me lots of small details about it but I haven't really had the chance to truly get into the telling," she replied laughing.

"So start at the beginning then," he said, inviting her openly to talk to him for as long as she wanted.

Sakura jumped into her story with a flourish, going into all the details of all the places she had been, all the people she had met. Even though other people crowded around to listen to her anecdotes, especially Lee who would look at her with sparkling admiration in his dark eyes, her attention was always directed at Neji. Both of them would laugh at each other's comments and would come up with some smart remark or other during the conversation.

In one instance, Sakura interrupted her chronicle momentarily when she saw Tenten and Genma give each other a quick kiss across the room. Leaning towards Neji, she grabbed his arm unconsciously, shock in her voice as she spoke.

"Neji! Since when is Tenten seeing Genma-san?" she asked in a harsh whisper.

Silver eyes looked over casually towards the unlikely couple, smiling at Sakura's reaction and more than noticing the contact of her palm upon his forearm.

"Well, they've been going out for around a month or so…"

"Really?" she asked, curiosity filtering through her voice. "I'm going to have to corner her one of these days and force it out of her."

"She's always had something for older men, you know," Neji replied chuckling.

Sakura eyes widened for a fraction of a second as she digested this juicy bit of information before she dissolved into a fit of giggles.

The pink haired kunoichi's musical laugh contrasted perfectly with the raven haired Captain's deep baritone chuckles and it was clear to see that they were enjoying each other's company immensely.

A few seats away, Kiba leaned towards Naruto. "If I didn't know him any better, I would say that Hyuuga Neji is attempting to flirt with our newly arrived blossom," he said behind his hand.

Lifting his beer mug up for a drink, the blond glanced at the animated couple over the rim of his glass.

"If I didn't know him any better, I would say he _is_," he replied with a knowing snigger, placing his drink back on the table.

Kiba laughed with him before turning back to Shikamaru and Chouji.

Behind them, a dark look flew across a pair of shadowed eyes. Leaning back into his chair, Sasuke clearly heard the exchange between the blond and the Canine Master. Silently, he stayed in his corner, hearing bits and pieces of conversation from all over the room, his penetrating gaze never leaving the lively figures of Neji and Sakura throughout the long hours.

XXXXXXXXXX

It was around 3am when they finally decided it was time to call it a night. Naruto was more than a little tipsy, and was counting on Lee to see him safely to his house. Kissing her lover goodbye on the cheek before he was half-carried away, Hinata made her way home accompanied by Ino and Kiba, who waved farewell to everyone as they walked away. Sasuke was nowhere to be seen.

"Would you like to me to walk you home?" Neji offered as he stood with Sakura outside the pub's door.

"Quite the gentleman, aren't you?" Sakura asked teasingly, raising an elegant pink eyebrow.

"A lady should be treated with nothing less than respect," he answered.

She had to laugh at that.

"Hyuuga, I'd change that point of view if I were you," Shikamaru remarked as he came out of the pub with Chouji in tow. "Women are nothing but trouble."

"I'll tell Ino you said that!" Sakura replied in mock irritation, a fist on her hip.

"She already knows!" Shikamaru answered as he started walking away.

"See you guys," Chouji said to them, rolling his eyes at his best friend's antics. Stepping up next to Shikamaru, the two of them walked down the street.

Giggling as she watched them stroll away, the pink haired medic turned back towards Neji, who was once more looking at her with an intense expression in his eyes. Sakura's skin threatened to erupt in goose bumps of anticipation.

"Shall we?" he asked.

"Are you sure you don't mind?" she inquired, honest concern in her voice.

"Of course not, my apartment is near enough to yours for me to make a small detour. Besides, who wouldn't want to spend some extra time in your delightful company?"

Raising both her eyebrows in surprise at the compliment, Sakura giggled unbelievingly as she shook her head.

"You don't waste any time, do you?" she asked, starting to walk in the direction of her home.

"Not if I can help it," he replied without missing a beat, stepping up to walk beside her.

Laughing quietly as they walked, Sakura could easily see how any woman would fall for him in a matter of seconds. He said all the right things, he had all the right moves, he had the right attitude… and his gorgeous looks were something no female could avoid. As he walked next to her, the pink haired medic contemplated his well-built figure out of the corner of her eye, not being able to overlook the tight corded muscles running all through his arms. She didn't even want to begin to think of what he was hiding beneath that shirt of his…

Oh yes, Hyuuga Neji was quite a catch in every aspect and any woman would die to have a chance to find bliss in his arms.

But not _this_ woman.

As she quietly reflected over the possibilities of what 'might be', she knew an amorous relationship between the two of them would was most likely not to succeed. She was too scarred, emotionally and mentally, to be involved with someone at the moment and deep down inside, she knew Neji deserved someone who would love him with no restraints… with no emotional traumas of suffered neglect in their past. She preferred to save him the trouble of finding out how truly screwed up she was.

_Yeah, all you ever do is run from your past_, Inner Sakura remarked.

Silencing her inner persona with intense anger, the pink haired kunoichi shook her head slightly. She had not run from her past… she had just needed some time away to get her troubled mind and broken heart back in working order. It had not been easy to leave, but it had been a necessary move to keep her mental health in check. In truth, her journey _had_ given her time to think things over calmly and had allowed her to see the bigger picture, something she would have not been able to do if she had stayed cocooned inside the village she had lived all her life.

"I don't mean to intrude, but, what are you thinking about?" Neji asked, genuine curiosity in his voice.

"Oh!" Sakura exclaimed in surprise, a slight blush covering her cheeks. "I'm sorry Neji, I didn't mean to space out on you. When I start thinking really deeply I just sort of tune out from the rest of the world. It's a habit I haven't been able to break."

"Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with that. I just saw a really intense look cross your face and I was wondering what you were thinking."

"Oh, not much really," she said, as her brain worked furiously for a cover up. As was usually the case in this type of situations, her neurons never failed her.

"I was just thinking about how nice it is to be back and how much all of us have grown up. It's amazing to think how far we've come. But in essence, if you really think about it, if anyone sat down to talk to any of us, we're still the same kids we used to be. I mean, like tonight. We may have been in a completely different setting from when we were younger, at a pub, having some drinks late at night, but the dynamics between us will always remain the same. I think that's actually great, how we can grow and be ourselves while keeping our friendships intact."

She congratulated herself with that one. She had not only managed to cover up her true feelings, but had also managed to sound slightly intelligent while doing so.

_How nice Haruno_, her inner voice piped in, _you've been with him for only a few hours and you're already lying to him._

An intense pang of guilt swam across her chest and she felt ashamed of what she had just done. But she honestly knew she had no choice… she was not about to bring him into her screwed up inner conflict without even giving him a decent warning. Some things were just better left hidden.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It really is great," he said to her. Little did Sakura know that thanks to his Byakugan, Neji was an expert chakra reader. When he was at close proximity, he did not even need to activate his bloodline technique to be able to read it clearly. As they walked together, he knew there was something she wasn't telling him and it was easy to see that she was experiencing some very conflicting emotions.

But he respected her privacy and he wasn't about to push her into telling him anything she didn't want. Besides, there would be enough time for that later on…

As they strolled together beneath the starry Konoha night, Hyuuga Neji openly admitted to himself that he had officially set his sight on this pretty pink haired kunoichi. There was _so_ much more behind that sweet façade and he would find out exactly what it was. All he needed was time.

A couple of minutes afterwards, they arrived at Sakura's doorstep.

"Thank you Neji, for walking me." Sakura said as she stepped up to her door.

"It was my pleasure," he replied with a smile. "You should get inside and get some rest."

"You too, you arrived from a mission tonight as well."

"I promise I will," he said, bowing slightly towards her. As he looked back up at her, silver met emerald in a breath-taking gaze and this time, Sakura could do nothing to prevent the goose bumps from emerging on her skin.

"Good night, Sakura," Neji said with a charming smile, and with that, he turned around and started walking in the direction of his apartment.

"Good night, Neji!" Sakura called after him. He turned momentarily and waved back at her before continuing down the street.

Slightly breathless, the pink haired medic unlocked her door, stepping inside her home. Deep down inside, she knew that, despite her tiredness, sleep would be extremely hard to attain this night.

A few minutes later, Hyuuga Neji walked into own his living room, stopping momentarily to survey his surroundings, a triumphant smile on his lips.

Suddenly, the whole place didn't seem so empty anymore.

* * *

Read and review! 


	3. Pink perspective

**A/N**: Wow, I really didn't expect so many reviews for this fic! It makes me feel all giddy inside… hehehe. Thanks everyone, for reading and sharing your thoughts. It's really appreciated!

Here's the next installment… it came out a lot longer than the other two. These chapters are just extending by themselves! For those of you wondering about a love triangle in this fic, there might be some elements placed here and there. But overall, you'll get the picture after you read this chapter. Our Sakura is moving on in life, damn it! Haha.

Hope you like it!

* * *

**CHAPTER III – Pink perspective**

Sunshine streamed down through the window as a sleepy pink haired kunoichi made her way towards the kitchen, intent on getting her fundamental dose of morning caffeine. Her pink hair was in complete disarray and one of the straps of her light blue cotton camisole was hanging loosely off her shoulder. Turning on the coffee maker, she took one of her big mugs from a nearby cupboard, placing it down as she intently watched the dark brown liquid start to pour.

She had been extremely lucky to have Shizune-san look over her small apartment while she was gone. Everything was in pristine order and the whole place was extremely clean; it was as if she had never left. Knowing that Sakura would be returning sometime during the week, Shizune had made sure to replenish her fridge somewhat, so that the pink haired medic would have something to eat when she got back. She had also replenished her coffee supplies, which was extremely important; Sakura was notoriously known for being unable to start her day without it.

Pouring the coffee, she added some milk and sugar, lifting the mug to her face and relishing in the delicious smell. As she took her first sip, she felt her brain start to work again and she slowly came back into the world.

As her mind cleared, memories of the previous night came flooding back to her and Sakura found herself smiling widely when she remembered Neji and the moments they had shared. Nothing explicit had been done or said, but that didn't mean that there hadn't been _something_ there. It was strange how after so many years of knowing the Hyuuga prodigy, it was only after her return that he managed to catch her eye.

_I thought you said you weren't going to fall for him,_ Inner Sakura interrupted.

Deflating completely at the thought, she realized that her inner persona was right. She had promised herself to stay away from him... in truth, she had promised herself to stay away from _any_ man. Neji didn't deserve an obsessive and neurotic girl like her. Sakura needed time to get her act together now that she was back in Konoha.

Through her four month journey, she had thought about an extensive number of things: from her relationships with her parents, her friends, her teachers… and her platonic love. Through it all, she had found a pattern in all those relationships and it had hurt to realize that all through her life, she had always been too eager to please, too eager to give others what they wanted… never had she given herself a chance to get what _she_ wanted.

And she had wanted Sasuke… she had wanted him with all her heart and her soul.

But instead of approaching the situation in a more constructive way, she had groveled at Sasuke's feet like if she wasn't worth anything… and the worst part was that the Uchiha prodigy had reveled in it. Sakura had raised him on a pedestal above all other human beings and had worshipped him openly. And like some fickle deity, he had enjoyed every single minute of it, taking advantage of the situation whenever he could, denigrating his devotee with unimaginable cruelty.

Sure, they had shared lots of happy times together, but Naruto had always acted like a human buffer between them. The blond was there to alleviate the tension which would have unavoidably built up if the two of them had been left alone together. Sakura was sure that Naruto had felt the uncomfortable strain between his two team mates and had willingly sacrificed himself as the scapegoat, acting like the 'comic relief' all the time. This had allowed the three of them to get along really well and they had managed to accomplish remarkable goals as a team.

But due to this fact, Sakura couldn't recall even a single moment of her spending some time alone with Sasuke… there was always someone else present with them and she never had the chance to actually have a casual conversation with him or anything of that sort. They spent _years_ working together, but never really got to know each other very well.

Of course, the sole exception had been when he had decided to leave for Sound. This had been the moment when Sakura had first found the hidden store of courage inside her being and had decided to go out there and get what she wanted.

But everyone knew how _that_ encounter had ended…

As she thought over it while she was traveling, she became furious with herself. How could she have lowered herself to such levels? She had actually volunteered to go with him, to sacrifice the life she had known up to that moment… to leave everything she held dear just so she could be with him.

What had **_he_** ever done to deserve such unconditional devotion?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Her apprenticeship with Tsunade-sensei had started along the same lines as well. She had asked the Godaime to take her on as her student so she could help Naruto in the future to rescue Sasuke. She hadn't done it for _herself_, she had done it for someone else… it was the sad story of her life.

But somewhere along the lines, Sakura's point of view started to shift. Slowly, she realized she was actually _good_ at something. All through her early shinobi training, she had been the brain of the class, but had never stood out when it came to the field. She had never had anything solid to give her confidence and had always walked in the shadows of her two team mate prodigies. However, when the time came for her to take a medic nin's techniques head on, Sakura didn't find that she was good at it… she found that she _excelled_.

Her sensei would sometimes try unsuccessfully to hide her surprise whenever the pink haired kunoichi dominated a technique after only one try and she would sometimes laugh mysteriously while hugging her pupil, as if she knew something the rest of the world didn't.

By the workings of the universe, Sakura had been allowed an opportunity to shine with her own light. Confidence in her abilities as a ninja came as a much needed second effect, and she realized she didn't _need_ anyone else to be someone in life… she could stand on her own two feet with no problem at all and could kick some serious shinobi ass.

In the end, her apprenticeship took her down unprecedented roads and made her reconsider her original reason for becoming the Godaime's student. Everything was suddenly all about _her_, not about anyone else. She became an assertive woman who fought for the things she wanted and she conquered her goals with a flourish.

This was all and good in her professional life, but her personal life was a different matter. Through the years, she had maintained and reinforced her friendships with her fellow shinobi, with Naruto especially, but had never truly forced herself to analyze her previous relationship with the missing Uchiha prodigy.

She had successfully buried it deep within her heart, untouched and uncared for. It was always a touchy subject, but eventually, she managed to forget him on the surface and continued undisturbed with her life. This meant she had been able to have other relationships with different men, and in truth, she had managed to fall truly in love with them at some point. But always, deep within her, there was a thorn stabbing at her heart and an image of Sasuke's face would constantly come up in her dreams, tormenting her to no end.

And by the mysterious laws of the cosmos, she had been the medic in charge at the hospital the day he had been brought back.

When she saw Naruto enter the corridor, a limp body on his back, she knew something was wrong. By the way his intense eyes looked at her for a frozen moment in time, Sakura knew something _big_ had happened. Her stunned emerald eyes traveled from his face to the man he was carrying and recognized him immediately.

Breaking into a run, she started barking orders at the resident medics as she went, signaling for Naruto to place Sasuke down in a nearby room. Coming up to him, as soon as his head hit the pillow, she examined him thoroughly. His chakra system was completely burnt out and it was not regenerating as it should. His heart beat and breathing were completely irregular… he was slowly fading and needed to be stabilized immediately.

"He's in a coma," she said desperately, hands already working furiously on the hand signals needed for the advanced medical jutsu she was about to perform. "Step back", she told Naruto and the 2 medics in the room.

An intense bright light emerged from her hands, and without hesitation, she brought them over Sasuke's heart, feeding his exhausted system with her own powerful chakra. After a few moments, her hands traveled extensively over his body, repairing damaged bone and tissue, working vehemently as she treated all his injuries, his life in her hands.

After around a whole hour of constantly pouring her chakra into him, he finally started breathing normally, his heartbeat at a steady rhythm. Closing her hands into tight fists, Sakura released the jutsu, stepping back and collapsing into a nearby chair.

"What the _hell_ happened?" she asked, as an assistant brought her a glass of cold water.

Naruto proceeded to explain what they had been through, emotion in his sapphire blue eyes. By the time he finished, astounded emerald orbs stared back at him.

"After all the effort we put into looking for him, you just happened to bump into him?" she asked unbelievably.

"Well… yeah," the blond replied, a sheepish grin on his face.

Sasuke had to spend the next few days in the hospital and Sakura watched over him at all times while he was unconscious. He woke up 36 hours after she had treated him personally. The pink haired medic would never forget that day.

It had been late afternoon and she was sitting by his bed, looking intently at his sleeping face. He was as handsome as ever and his physique was worthy of admiration. She reached up and caressed his hair softly, thinking deeply.

'This is what I've been working for all these years,' she thought. 'I've trained with all my heart and soul to succeed in this moment… to be the one to save him when no one else was there. This is the reason why I became a medic nin.'

But if this was the incredibly sought-after pinnacle of her life, why did she feel so unfulfilled?

True, she had saved _his_ life in an amazing demonstration of skill, but hadn't she done that an innumerable number times for other people… for comrades who had fought side by side with her?

This was Sasuke she was talking about; he was _the_ love of her life. But as she stared at him for countless minutes, he suddenly seemed so… _human._ He wasn't the unreachable man she had fought for her entire life, the man who appeared in her dreams. She had fantasized about their reunion countless times, where she would cry over him and he would embrace her in return, taking all her troubles away with a single kiss.

But unexpectedly, here they were, back together. She wasn't crying over him and wasn't about to do so and she was sure that when he woke up, he wouldn't even think of embracing her. And ironically enough, she didn't _have _any troubles for him to kiss away.

He suddenly seemed so tangible… so mundane.

Eyes opening up slowly, she watched as Sasuke returned to the land of the living. Disoriented, he looked around first, not recognizing where he was. His eyes settled on her, widening in surprise and he looked at her silently for a few moments. Understanding came into his gaze eventually, as if he were remembering what had happened earlier with Naruto and his team. A half-smile graced his lips as he reached forward to take her hand.

And then he had to go and open his mouth.

"Still as annoying as ever, eh?" he said, a touch of humor in his unused voice.

Something inside her just snapped.

Laughing cynically, she lifted her face up to the ceiling.

This had been the reunion she had dreamed of for countless of years?

A sudden realization came flooding into her mind as if a dam had just broken. She had never _truly_ been in love with Uchiha Sasuke… She had fallen in love with an image of him of _her_ creation; an image which was utterly and absolutely incompatible with the real version of him.

Stupidly, she had overlooked all his flaws and all the things he did to make her feel bad, thinking that if she gave him a chance, he would one day transform into the man of her dreams… into the man who was a figment of her imagination.

How could she have fooled herself so?

It was suddenly too much. It was time to put an end to all this.

Turning towards him, she smiled one of her professional smiles, one of those she reserved for her patients, a practice she had perfected throughout the years.

"I'm glad you're ok," she told him, and before he could answer, she stood up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"The patient inside this room is awake already," she told one of resident medics as he passed through the corridor. "Please take the best of care of him and refer him to Shizune-san. I won't be handling his case."

And with that, she walked out of the hospital without looking back.

Throughout the trial and days after it, Sakura kept her distance. She joined in the celebration but would always make sure she was never alone with Sasuke at any given moment. In all honestly, she was genuinely happy for him and was glad he had been able to rejoin the ranks of Konoha's shinobi, but she didn't want him to be anything else but an acquaintance.

Falling into depression, she managed to keep fulfilling her duties, trying to continue her life. But she was hurting too deeply and old wounds which she thought she had buried re-opened with a vengeance and threatened to engulf her whole.

This was the reason why she had decided to volunteer for such a long-term mission; she needed to spend some time by herself, away from everyone else. She had come to terms with the fact that she had been hurt terribly and needed to mourn for that lost ideal of a man to which she had held on to for most of her life.

But she also had to come to terms with the fact that not only had Sasuke hurt her… _she_ had hurt herself. And the wounds she had inflicted upon herself were the worst of all.

Coming back to the present, she bustled round the kitchen, making herself a quick breakfast of eggs and toast. Sitting down by her lonely self at the counter, she ate slowly, refilling her coffee mug once more.

She was proud that she had enough courage to leave and didn't regret her departure in the least. Her time away had allowed her to come to peace with herself in certain aspects, but some other issues were still far from being solved. You didn't overcome years of verbal and psychological abuse in the blink of an eye.

This was the reason why she wasn't ready for _any_ type of relationship, not this soon. At some point in her journey, she had actually sworn off men for good… at least for a couple of years. It was the healthiest thing she could do.

Reinforcing her resolve, she pushed away all thoughts of a certain silver eyed Captain as she placed her dishes in the sink. She had agreed to meet Tsunade-sensei this morning; she needed to start her extensive reports of her mission but the former pupil and teacher also needed to catch up with the current events in their lives.

Grabbing a fluffy towel from her closet, she made her way into the bathroom intent on getting a quick shower before stepping out.

XXXXXXX

Laughter echoed behind the door of the large office just as it opened, revealing the mirthful figures of the Hokage and her youngest student. They had spent all morning talking and sharing the experiences they had gone through while they had been apart. Now, it was early afternoon and the Godaime's workload had unavoidably accumulated, which in her perspective wasn't a problem. But Sakura knew how lazy her sensei could be when it came to dealing with Konoha's diplomatic tasks; hence, she had forced herself to leave so that Tsunade-sama would have the rest of the day to work.

Not that it mattered if the Legendary Sannin ended up falling asleep over the reports she had to go over…

Nonetheless, the pink haired kunoichi decided it was time go when they had finished eating a quick lunch.

"Remember you need to prepare for that lecture you're given the medics in a few days," the Hokage reminded her as she stepped through the door. "I'll reserve the auditorium for you and I'll make sure Shizune goes around telling people. We need as many medics from the hospital to attend so they can become familiar with the new techniques you brought back."

"Ok, great," Sakura replied. "I'll make sure to tell some people myself. Can I make it an open lecture?"

"I don't see why not… anyone's who's interested should be able to attend. But we need to focus on the medics, since they're the ones who will be applying the jutsus in the field."

"I know. The thing is, I was planning on telling Naruto to attend. You know, try to get something apart from ramen into his head at least for a few moments."

"That baka, he'll probably end up drowning the auditorium with his snores!"

Sakura giggled.

"But yes, he can attend. Just make sure to tell him that if he drools on the seats, he'll have to face me personally."

"Hai! I'll let him know," the pink haired medic replied with a smile. "It was great talking to you sensei," she finished, as she stepped up and embraced Tsunade.

"It's great to have you back", the Godaime replied, returning the embrace. "And I hope all that time on your own helped," she added, a knowing look on her face.

"It did," Sakura answered honestly, and with that, she turned round and walked down the corridor.

Heading down the long flight of stairs at a leisurely pace, the pink haired kunoichi stretched languidly as she watched shinobi going up and down the steps hastily, running important errands or in the middle of some task. She knew she would soon be joining them in their frenzy, since she would have to return to her medic duties soon, but for now, the Hokage had given her a few days off for fulfilling her mission so effectively.

Sakura had actually returned to the village with twice as many techniques as Tsunade had predicted, making Konoha's medical records the most complete in the world. With her quick smiles and her charm, she had managed to win over even the most apprehensive of villages, convincing their leaders that this was for the good of all shinobi and in return, she taught them some techniques herself. She also reminded them that whenever any village had the need to investigate any given technique, Konoha's gates would be open; and if they couldn't come to research it themselves, then she would personally send them a copy of the scroll with all the appointed notes.

This was an offer very few allied Kages could refuse, and all of them were willing to share their most advanced medical jutsus. The Kazekage had been the one who had traded the highest number of techniques. After Sakura had saved Kankurou's life, Gaara trusted her abilities completely. He had even asked her if she could come and train his medic team personally, but as much as she would've have liked to, she still had her mission to fulfill. She did go around giving some lectures at Sand's hospital while she was staying at the village and told the Kazekage that he was welcome to send an envoy of medics to Konoha to train under Shizune-san's supervision, since she would be traveling for some time. Gaara replied that he would likely take up her offer.

Sakura reached the first floor and proceeded to walk out of the Konoha's shinobi headquarters. The day was bright and the sky was a cobalt blue with very few clouds spread across it. Summer was quickly approaching and for the pink haired kunoichi, it was one her favorite times of the year.

With the sun shining brightly upon her, she felt that no inner shadows could reach her under its brilliance.

As she walked by the shinobi academy, she heard a distinctive yell.

"NO! That's not how you do it, Reizo!"

Sakura could recognize Naruto's voice a mile away even through a thunderstorm.

Turning in the direction his shouts were coming from, she walked slowly towards them.

"Yosh, very well done Rai!" another voice was saying.

It was Lee.

Curious as to what they might be doing, Sakura stepped around the corner of a nearby building only to emerge at a small training ground.

There standing in the middle were Naruto and Lee, two genins in front of each, as if the two youngsters had just been engaged in combat. Behind the two jounins stood another two genins, all of them paying rapt attention to what was happening.

'I didn't know they had been assigned a group of genins!' Sakura thought surprised, stifling a giggle at seeing Naruto act as a teacher. 'Oh no, now we're going to have chibi-Narutos running rampant and screaming 'dattebayo' every three seconds.'

Not being able to stop her laughter at that last thought, the pink haired kunoichi giggled out loud, but wasn't heard by the people nearby.

"Alright, one more time," the Kage Bunshin Master was saying.

Both jounins stepped back so the two boys could go at each other again.

'Oh, I see, taijutsu practice,' Sakura thought, as both youngsters attempted to attack each other with a series of punch combos.

A small movement caught the corner of her eye and she faced to her right only to find a very surprising sight.

There, standing underneath the shade of some nearby trees, arms crossed in front of him, Konoha headband on his forehead, a neutral expression on his face as he observed the scene, stood none other than Hyuuga Neji… three young genins of his own standing in front of him.

'He has a group of genins too?' Sakura thought in amazement.

As she looked over the group with an observant eye, a smile came unbidden to her lips. The three of them were a mirror image of their sensei, arms crossed over their chests, cold calculating stares in their eyes… compared to Naruto's boisterous students, who were by now screaming loud encouragement to their fighting team mate, Neji's group was the definition of discipline. They looked slightly older than Lee's and Naruto's kids, but just like the groups of these last two, there was one girl assigned to each team.

A loud thud brought her gaze back to the ongoing practice, only to find Naruto's genin lying face up on the ground.

"Come on, Reizo, you can do better than that!" the blond chided his pupil as he helped the boy up.

"He's just too fast, Naruto-sensei!" the young genin replied in frustration.

"Naruto-_sensei_?" Sakura asked skeptically as she walked towards the centre of the training ground, coming into clear view. "I'm not sure if I'll be able to sleep at night with that thought," she finished, a tinge of humor in her voice.

At the sound of her voice, Neji hastily turned his face in her direction, a half-smile forming on his lips as he watched her approach. Her features were even more stunning under the daylight.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto greeted with a smile, knowing she was teasing him good naturedly.

"Yosh, everyone salute Sakura-san!" Lee exclaimed, and Sakura found his three genins in front of her, bowing in respect, their teacher doing the same right behind them.

"Hi everybody," she replied in greeting, returning their bow slightly. "I didn't know you guys had already been assigned a group of genins."

"I know, kind of scary isn't it?" Naruto said, scratching the back of his head, oblivious to the apprehensive stares he was receiving from his pupils at the statement.

Sakura shook her head in resignation at the blond's stupidity and addressed his somewhat nervous students.

"Don't worry guys, I know you're sensei can sometimes be a complete baka, but he knows what he's doing," she assured them.

She received three smiles in return, as if they knew exactly what she was talking about.

"How long have you been training them?" Sakura asked, turning to the jounins once more.

"We've been together for almost four months… Come to think of it, we were assigned to each other around a week after you left, Sakura," Lee replied.

Nodding in understanding, she was about to reply when someone stepped in front of her and bowed with deep respect.

"Sakura-sama", the young boy said to her.

Looking down at him in momentary confusion, Sakura's eyes widened in recognition after a few seconds.

"Kyoshi-chan!" she exclaimed, returning his bow as she looked him over. "My, you've grown since the last time I saw you."

As she straightened up, she looked over the brown haired boy's leaning form only to find Neji and two of his genins coming their way. Apparently, the youngster in front of her was the third member of the ANBU Captain's team.

"Neji," she greeted once he was closer.

Smiling in return, the raven haired jounin looked directly into her emerald eyes, making her want to squirm nervously under his intensity.

_I thought we were going to **avoid**_ _him!_ Inner Sakura yelled.

'We were!' Sakura replied inside her mind, 'this was a mere coincidence!'

Luckily she was forced to look away when one of Naruto's genins stepped abruptly in front of Kyoshi.

"And were do _you_ know her from, Mr. Important?" the boy asked huffily.

Kyoshi turned angry dark brown eyes towards him. "She saved my father's life, Maro. Sakura-sama is the _best_ medic nin in the village! Even you should know something like that, dobe."

Neji eyes widened slightly at this bit of information and he looked over at the blushing woman standing close by.

"Sakura-_sama_?" Naruto asked unbelievingly as he grabbed Maro by the shirt collar, preventing him from throwing himself on top of Kyoshi.

The pink haired kunoichi smiled sheepishly at her friend, cheeks tinged slightly red.

"Is that true?" Neji's female genin asked, stepping forward.

"Yes it is," Sakura told her, smiling. "Kyoshi's father arrived in a really bad condition after a mission late one night. I was on watch at the hospital at that time and I was the one who treated him."

"And what had happened to him?" she asked curiously.

"Errm," the pink haired kunoichi said hesitantly, looking up at Neji for permission to continue.

But as the Captain gave her a quick nod of assent, Kyoshi interrupted.

"He had been impaled through the leg with a double-katana. They brought him unconscious back to Konoha as fast as the team could, but he had already lost too much blood and was fading fast…it was likely that they would have to amputate his leg in an attempt to save him. But Sakura-sama showed up and with an amazing jutsu, she managed to stop the bleeding and repair the damaged tissue. It took her _all_ night to do so, but in the end she managed to save him. My dad was in the hospital for almost three weeks, but at long last, he left the hospital walking on his own two legs."

After this small emotional speech, Kyoshi's eyes were dangerously teary.

Sakura let out a deep breath, thanking the heavens that the young genin hadn't gone into a detailed explanation of how the blade had sliced completely through his father's flesh, splitting part of the bone and causing large amounts of blood to cover the whole scene. These gruesome aspects were part her everyday experience as a medic, but it wasn't something you brought up at the dinner table or during genin afternoon practice, either.

"That was incredibly heroic," Neji complimented her.

"Just doing my job," Sakura said as she blushed even further, evading his intense silver eyes as best as she could.

"Sakura-sama", Neji's female genin addressed her formally, "thank you for saving Kyoshi's father." And with that, she bowed in deep respect towards the older woman. As if on cue, her other two team mates bowed as well.

Covering her mouth with her hand, the pink haired kunoichi found her eyes dampening at the unexpected standing ovation she was receiving.

"They are the most polite group of genins I have ever seen in my life," she said to Neji, admiration in her voice. "They take after their sensei."

"Thank you, we've worked extremely hard," he said looking proudly over his team.

"You've achieved a lot in four months," she continued to say.

"No, we've actually been together longer than that. It's been over a year. They're actually taking their chuunin exam in a month."

Sakura's eyes widened in amazement; it was a big reminder of how little she actually knew about the Hyuuga prodigy. "A year? Neji, that's amazing. How do you find the time? I mean, with you being ANBU Captain and all."

He smiled, taking her comments as a compliment. "The Hokage wanted me to prepare a genin team for this year's chuunin exams. She wanted me to train a specialist ANBU team. Our hunting nin ranks have actually declined lately and we want to start teaching them from a younger age so they can be incorporated more quickly. So, I have only been assigned the toughest ANBU missions for the past year and have been allowed the rest of the time to train them."

As Sakura looked over the three young genins standing in front of the Captain, eager looks in their eyes, smiling at their sensei's affirmation of them being a 'specialist team', her emerald eyes saddened slightly. Here she was, a medic nin, trained throughout the years to save life at whatever cost… and here were these three juvenile teenagers, trained to _take_ life from the very beginning.

Would she one day have to treat one of them in an emergency during a mission after they had gone out there to fulfill their rolls as Konoha's angels of death?

Looking up at their Captain, she suddenly realized this was his roll as well and he fulfilled it with excellence. Would _she_ ever have to treat him?

Suddenly, the ironies of the world weighed too heavily upon her shoulders.

Naturally, after being her team mate and best friend for most of her life, it was Naruto who noticed Sakura's sudden lapse into misery. Accustomed to such antics from the highly sensitive kunoichi, the blond rolled his eyes in resignation.

Coming up behind her, he patted her forcefully on the head. "Hey, the Real World to Sakura… come back to us…"

Years of being around her allowed him to have fast enough reflexes to dodge the expertly aimed punch making its way towards his face.

"I haven't gone _anywhere_, baka!" she shouted angrily at him.

"Well, with that enormous brain of yours, you never know to which imaginary world you've gone off to," Naruto was saying as he kept dodging her blows.

"Why you little…" the pink haired medic huffed as she kept going forward, trying to hit her friend, all sad thoughts effectively vanished from her mind.

As Lee and the genins laughed while Naruto tried to stay at a safe distance from the attacking kunoichi, Neji stared pensively at the fast moving woman. Her lapse into a mini-depression just moments before hadn't gone unnoticed by the ever observant Hyuuga, and he knew it had been triggered by something he had said. What exactly it could've been, he didn't know. But he _did_ know that the thought of him being the cause of her momentary sadness didn't sit well with him.

"Calm down, Sakura-chan, calm down," the blond said after a couple of minutes, his hands in front of him in a placating gesture. "I was only joking."

She lowered her fists, but was still glaring openly at him.

Naruto let out a deep breath, glad that her onslaught had ended. One direct hit of her fists would've sent him flying up to the top of Tsunade's tower…

As the thought crossed his mind, an idea hit him in the face. He _knew_ there was something he had been meaning to ask her once she got back.

"Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan!" he said excitedly, jumping up and down.

Shaking her head at his sudden lapse into hyperactivity, she wondered if it was truly an adult jounin standing in front of her. It was just _so_ Naruto.

"What is it?" she asked patiently, reenacting the same scenario they had been playing ever since the beginning of Team 7: she standing calmly in front of him while he excitedly told her what was on his mind.

"Now that you're here, would you mind giving my team a small lesson on chakra control?" he asked sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, a habit he had never grown out of. "I mean, I've done it myself and I know how to do it, but I'm just not good at explaining this type of thing…"

Sighing deeply, Sakura knew she would be doing these genins a favor if she took them momentarily under her wing. Their sensei really _was_ an idiot sometimes.

"Sure, no problem," she said, smiling at the youngsters. "I wasn't doing anything this afternoon anyway."

"YOSH!" Naruto's three pupils said in unison, coming up to stand at attention in front of Sakura.

"Would you mind if mine join in as well?" Lee asked politely, bowing towards the medic.

"Sure, why not," Sakura answered with a smile.

Neji's team looked up expectantly at their sensei, but the raven haired jounin was still staring thoughtfully at some point in the distance. From their perspective, they didn't notice he was keeping a certain pink haired kunoichi within the boundaries of his silver sight at all times.

"Neji-sensei?" Kyoshi asked.

Looking down at his pupil, the Captain gave no outer signs that his deep thoughts had just been interrupted.

"You can go," he told them, "the practice will do you good."

"Hai!" the three of them said simultaneously, joining the other genins in front of the pink haired medic in an orderly fashion.

Suddenly, Sakura found herself surrounded by a group of eager students, open admiration in their youthful eyes. She didn't know why, but it made her slightly nervous… but it was nothing she couldn't handle.

"Ok, before we start, I think we should move to a better location," she said, looking around the small training area. "I know a really good place in the forest just outside the gates."

Turning round, she started walking, her nine pupils following enthusiastically.

"And their teachers are coming too!" she shouted without even looking back, having sensed that Naruto was trying to tiptoe his way towards the opposite direction.

"Ah man!" he complained. "I thought I was going to have the afternoon off."

"Alright team," Lee said as he stepped up to the walking genins. "I think I know to the place Sakura-san is referring to. Let's use this opportunity as a chance to train hard! The last one to reach the clearing will run five laps around the entire village!"

"HAI!" Lee's team replied, jumping into a run just as their sensei sped away.

"Some things will never change," Sakura murmured under her breath with a smile as she and the remaining genins continued at a slower pace.

"You coming?" Naruto asked Neji, who was still standing in the middle of the training ground.

Nodding in his direction, the Captain stepped up to walk next to the blond, his silver eyes never leaving the figure of the pink haired kunoichi walking a small distance in front of them.

* * *

_Quick note_: concerning the 'double-katana', I really didn't know what else to call it. If you've seen the movie 'Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children' (one my favorites!), it's the sword that Kadaj uses; two blades in one hilt.

Thanks for reading! Leave your reviews before you leave!


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